The Recipe Room

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me to make a cake for her daughter’s birthday party,  but it turned out that her daughter didn’t like chocolate, vanilla, or any of the other typical birthday cake flavours.  At first I was at a bit of a loss about what to make, but after a bit of thinking, inspiration struck.  This banana cake with orange frosting was the result, and her daughter absolutely loved it!

The cake is really just a traditional banana bread recipe, but doubled and baked in a round tube pan instead of its usual rectangular shape.  The frosting is cream cheese-based and flavoured with the juice and rind of a fresh orange.  If you don’t happen to have any fresh oranges at hand, you can substitute with store-bought orange juice.  It won’t be quite as tasty and tangy, but it’ll do in a pinch.

If you prefer veggies over fruits, you can try this carrot cake recipe, which tastes very similar and is absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

• 6 very ripe bananas
• 400g granulated sugar
• 2 beaten eggs
• 370g flour
• 1tsp salt
• 2tsp baking soda
• 8tbsp melted butter
• 1tsp cinnamon

For the frosting:

• 200g of cream cheese
• 320g (2 ½ cups) of icing sugar
• Juice from one medium orange
• 1tsp orange zest

Instructions:

For the sponge:

1. Preheat oven to 175ºC.
2. Butter and flour a 27cm diameter round tube cake pan.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas into the sugar with a fork or potato masher.
4. Beat in the eggs and mix well.
5. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
6. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture and blend well.
7. Pour the mixture into the buttered and floured pan.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the side comes out clean.

For the frosting:

1. Combine all the ingredients and blend very well, either by hand or with an electric mixer.
2. Cool the icing in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  If it is too runny, add more icing sugar.
3. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake and serve.

Prep Time:  15 minutes

Cooking Time:  60 minutes

Serves:  10-12

Difficulty:  Medium